1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to electrical test fixtures, and more particularly, to a device and method for adjustable configuring test probes to perform testing on different electrical component configurations.
2. Description of the Related Art
In circuit breakers, a location of a lug and neutral strap may vary between different designs. In production, the different designs may need to employ the same test equipment, but the differences in the designs preclude such use. In conventional systems, functional production fixtures use electrical probes that are fixed in a housing and are not adjustable. To accommodate different components to be tested, the probes are manually bent by technicians to attempt to properly interface this connection with the component to be tested. Typically, the probes are bent by the use of a hammer or pliers. Due to these bending methods of the probes, the accuracy can vary greatly between testers and components to be tested. For example, a breaker may be non-conforming in one tester while passing in a different tester. This may be due to the location of the bent probes and the quality of the connection.
Further, the probes and the test fixtures are subject to damage due to the bending methods. Tooling of the probe is an additional disadvantage to the existing design since the probes usually are fabricated to prevent rotation of the probes during operation. For example, the electrical probes are hexagonal in shape and require special tooling to produce them. This type of design is employed so that the electrical probes do not rotate.
Electrical probes are usually supported in a single block configuration that cannot be adjusted in any manner. This requires that the location of the probes be exactly in position so that they interface with the line lug and neutral strap of a circuit breaker, for example. In some cases, the lugs may touch the plastic housing of the circuit breaker missing their target rather than making an electrical contact with the lug. The probe alignment becomes an issue in manufacturing during functional testing since circuit breaker designs may be different. Without proper electrical contact, the breakers could fail testing due to a lack of electrical continuity. Any design changes in the lug area of the breaker could require adjustments in the functional tester itself.
Typically, manufacturing will manually adjust the probes to meet the new design. However, this manual bending is not controlled to any specification, and the amount of bending varies from tester to tester and operator to operator.